Courland Pocket


The Courland Pocket was a pocket located on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia on the Eastern Front of World War II from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945.
Army Group North of the Wehrmacht were surrounded in western Latvia by the Red Army after the Baltic Offensive, when forces of the 1st Baltic Front reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after the collapse of Army Group Centre during Operation Bagration. Army Group North retreated to the Courland Pocket and was renamed Army Group Courland on 25 January, holding off six Red Army offensives until the German Instrument of Surrender was signed on 8 May 1945. Army Group Courland were in a communication "blackout" and did not get the official order until 10 May, becoming one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe.

Background

In June 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, with the goal of reaching the A–A line. The Wehrmachts Army Group North swept through the Baltic states, which had been occupied by the Soviets since June 1940, en route to capture the city of Leningrad. Army Group North spent most of the next two years attempting to take Leningrad with little success, turning momentum of the war in the north against the Germans. In January 1944, the Soviets lifted the siege of Leningrad, prompting Army Group North to retreat to the Panther Line.
On 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched Operation Bagration with the goal of recapturing the Byelorussian SSR from German occupation. Operation Bagration was extremely successful, resulting in the almost complete destruction of Army Group Centre by late August. This exposed Army Group North at the Panther Line to the north and forced them to retreat back through the Baltic states. Soviet forces would strike deep towards the Baltic Sea coast in the Kaunas and Šiauliai Offensives, severing communications between the Army Group North and the remnants of Army Group Centre. After Operation Bagration ended, the Soviet forces continued the clearing of the Baltic coast, despite German attempts to restore the front in Operation Doppelkopf. The Red Army fought the Memel Offensive Operation with the goal of isolating Army Group North by capturing the city of Memel.

Battles of the Courland Bridgehead

On 9 October 1944, the Red Army reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after overrunning the headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Army. As a result, Army Group North was trapped in western Latvia when the Soviets cut them off from East Prussia, and by extension the rest of the German forces. A pocket was formed from Tukums and Libau, with the Baltic Sea in the west, the Irbe Strait in the north, and the Gulf of Riga in the east. Adolf Hitler's military advisors — notably Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff — urged an evacuation and utilisation of the troops in Courland to stabilise the front in Central Europe. However, Hitler refused, and ordered the German forces in Courland and the Estonian islands Hiiumaa and Saaremaa to hold out, believing them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast. Hitler still believed the war could be won, and hoped that Admiral Karl Dönitz's new Type XXI U-boat technology could bring victory to Germany in the Battle of the Atlantic, forcing the Allies out of Western Europe. This would allow German forces to focus on the Eastern Front, using the pocket as a bridgehead for a new offensive. Hitler's refusal to evacuate the Army Group North resulted in the entrenchment of more than 200,000 German troops, largely of the 16th Army and 18th Army, in western Latvia. Thirty-three divisions of the Army Group North, commanded by Feldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner, were cut off from East Prussia and spread out along a front reaching from Riga to Liepāja, retreating to the more defensible position on the Courland Peninsula, abandoning Riga.
Soviet forces launched six major offensives against the German and Latvian forces entrenched in the Courland Pocket between 15 October 1944 and 4 April 1945. The German two-phase withdrawals during the execution of the second stage of the Soviet Baltic Offensive, subsequent to the pocket being formed in the Baltic Offensive's first stage, the Memel Offensive Operation.

Timeline

From 15 to 22 October 1944 – Soviets launched the Riga Offensive Operation on the 15th at 10:00 after conducting a heavy artillery barrage. Hitler permitted Schörner to commence withdrawal from Riga on 11 October, and the city was taken by the 3rd Baltic Front on 13 October. The front stabilised with the main remnant of Army Group North isolated in the peninsula.
From 27 October to 25 November – Soviets launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Skrunda and Saldus including at one point initiating a simultaneous attack by 52 divisions. Soviet forces also attacked southeast of Liepāja in an attempt to capture that port. 80 divisions assaulted the Germans from 1 to 15 November in a front 12 km wide. The Soviet breakthrough stalled after roughly 4 kilometers.
The third phase of the fighting started on 21 December with a Soviet attack on Germans near Saldus. The Soviet 2nd Baltic and 1st Baltic Fronts commenced a blockade, precipitating the German defence of the Courland perimeter during Soviet attempts to reduce it. In this battle, serving with the 2nd Baltic Front's 22nd Army, the Latvian 130th Rifle Corps faced their opposites in the Latvian 19th SS Division. The battle ended on 31 December and the front was stabilized.
On 25 January 1945, Army Group North was renamed Army Group Courland under Colonel-General Lothar Rendulic, while Schörner was transferred to Army Group Centre. In the middle of January, Guderian got Hitler's permission to withdraw 7 divisions from Courland, however, Hitler refused to consider a total withdrawal. The 4th Panzer Division, 31st, 32nd, 93rd Infantry Divisions, 11th SS Division Nordland and the remnants of the battered 227th, 218th and 389th Infantry Divisions and 15th Latvian SS-Division were evacuated over the sea. On 23 January, Soviet forces launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Liepāja and Saldus. They managed to take the bridgeheads on Bārta and Vārtāja rivers, but were once prevented from a break through by the Germans.
The fifth battle started on 12 February with a Soviet attack against the Germans towards Džūkste. Other attacks took place south of Liepāja where the Soviets massed 21 divisions, and south of Tukums where 11 divisions tried to break through the German front and take the town. On 16 February, the Soviets started an offensive against the 19th Division.

Surrender

On 8 May, the German Instrument of Surrender was signed, officially ending World War II in Europe. Dönitz, now the Head of State and President of Germany, ordered Colonel-General Carl Hilpert – the Army Group Courland's last commander – to surrender. However, German forces in the Courland Pocket had their communications severed, and the "blackout" meant they did not receive their orders until 10 May, two days after the war had ended. General Otto Friedrich Rauser succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviet command. Hilpert, his personal staff, and staffs of three Armies surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of the Leningrad Front. At this time, the group still consisted of the remnants of 27 divisions and one brigade. As a result, Army Group Courland became one of the final major German formations to surrender.
File:Пункт по сдаче вооружения в Курляндии.jpg|thumb|A Red Army officer accepts surrendered Sturmgeschütz IV assault guns.
On 9 May, the Soviet commission in Peilei started to interrogate the captive staff of Army Group Courland, and general collection of prisoners began.
By 12 May, approximately 135,000 German troops surrendered in the Courland Pocket. On 23 May, the Soviet collection of the German troops in the Courland Pocket was completed. A total of about 180,000 German troops were taken into captivity from the Baltic area. The bulk of the German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union were initially held at the Valdai Hills camps.

German Order of Battle (March 1945)

Army Group North

Army Group Courland
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff – from 10 March 1945 Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic – from 25 March 1945 Generaloberst Carl Hilpert

German 16th Army">16th Army (Wehrmacht)">German 16th Army

General der Infanterie Carl Hilpert – from 10 March 1945 General der Infanterie Ernst-Anton von Krosigk – from 16 March General der Gebirgstruppen Friedrich-Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach
  • XVI. Armeekorps – Generalleutnant Ernst-Anton von Krosigk – from 10 March Generalleutnant Gottfried Weber
  • * 81. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Franz Eccard von Bentivegni
  • * 300. Infanterie-Division z. b. V. – Generalmajor Anton Eberth
  • * 21. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division – Generalleutnant Albert Henze, 16 February 1945 Generalmajor Otto Barth
  • VI. SS-Armeekorps – SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Krüger
  • * 24. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Harald Schultz
  • * 12. Panzer-Division – Generalleutnant Erpo von Bodenhausen, from 14 April 1945 Generalmajor Horst von Usedom
  • * 19. SS-Grenadier-Division – SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Bruno Streckenbach
  • XXXVIII. Armeekorps – General der Artillerie Kurt Herzog
  • * 122. Infanterie-Division – General der Infanterie Friedrich Fangohr, from 20 January 1945 Generalmajor Bruno Schatz
  • * 290. Infanterie-Division – Generalmajor Hans-Joachim Baurmeister, from 25 April 1945 Generalmajor Carl Henke, from 27 April 1945 Generalleutnant Bruno Ortler
  • * 329. Infanterie-Division – Generalleutnant Konrad Menkel, from 1 January 1945 Generalmajor Werner Schulze

    German 18th Army">18th Army (Wehrmacht)">German 18th Army

General der Infanterie Ehrenfried Boege
Security Divisions
Luftwaffe
Marine
  • 9. Marine-Sicherungsdivision
  • 1. Minensuchflottille
  • 3. Minensuchflottille
  • 25. Minensuchflottille
  • 31. Minensuchflottille
  • 1. Räumbootsflottille – Kapitänleutnant Carl Hoff
  • 17. Räumbootsflottille
  • 3. Vorpostenflottille
  • 9. Vorpostenflottille
  • 17. Vorpostenflottille
  • 3. Sicherungsflottille
  • 14. Sicherungsflottille
  • 13. Landungsflottille
  • 21. Landungsflottille
  • 24. Landungsflottille
  • 3. U-Jagdflottille
  • 11. U-Jagdflottille
  • 1. Schnellboot-Schulflottille
  • 2. Schnellboot-Schulflottille
  • 3. Schnellboot-Schulflottille